Spill-proof container

ABSTRACT

A container comprising a first bowl nested within a second bowl. The first bowl includes a first opening and the second bowl includes a second opening. The first opening overlies the second opening to permit access to an interior storage space of the first bowl from an exterior of the container when the first and second bowls are in respective upright orientations. The first bowl may be rotated 180 degrees in every rotational direction relative to the second bowl while remaining nested within the second bowl.

The present application is a U.S. continuation of, and claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 to, U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No.10/834,631, filed Apr. 29, 2004, which published as U.S. patentapplication publication no. US 2005/0242100 A1, which is incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND

All of the material in this patent document, including the computerprogram listing, is subject to copyright protection under the copyrightlaws of the United States and other countries. The copyright owner hasno objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patentdocument or the patent disclosure, as it appears in officialgovernmental records but, otherwise, all other copyright rightswhatsoever are reserved.

The present invention relates to a spill-proof container, and inparticular to a particulate material container with an access openingthat closes when the container is tipped from its normal uprightposition, preventing contents spillage.

Numerous spill-proof containers are described in the prior art forholding drinks or other liquids. When designed for use by children, suchcontainers are commonly referred to as “sippy” cups. Spill-proofcontainers for liquids prevent liquid spillage by using a tubular memberthat extends into a larger outer container for holding a reservoir ofliquid, or by using a valve arrangement adjacent the discharge opening,which is often sized to fit the user's mouth. These containers are notsuitable for use in holding particulate material, whether or not aliquid is also present, since it is necessary for the user to haveaccess, either by hand or a utensil, to the particulate material inorder to remove the material from the container.

Several containers are also described in the prior art for use inholding particulate materials, or a combination of a particulatematerial and a liquid. These containers purport to hold particulatematerial in an easily accessible manner, while preventing discharge ofmaterial from the container when the container is tipped or inverted.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,174 to Williams, describes aspill-proof container for dry granular foodstuffs, such as cereal, whichis comprised of an outer container into which the foodstuff is placed,and a smaller, open-bottom container that extends into the outercontainer. A cover extends over the space between the outer and innercontainers. The user reaches through the inner container into the outercontainer to remove the foodstuff. If the container is tipped, thefoodstuff is held within the space between the containers. Due to theconfiguration required to prevent spillage, the outer container can onlybe partially filled, and access is cumbersome, since only the materialimmediately beneath the inner container is accessible.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,103 to Abernathy et al. also describes a cereal bowlcomprised of a smaller container within a larger container. The spacebetween the upper edges of the containers is open. In the event the bowlis tipped, the cereal in the inner bowl spills into the outer bowl. Thisalternative has no provision for recovery of the spilled material withinthe outer bowl and effectively requires discarding the cereal in theevent of spillage.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,656,514 to Tubbs and U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,384 to Voloshindescribe containers for food items, such as cereal flakes, crackers,cookies, and the like, in which the top is covered with a cap having aplurality of flexible, pie-shaped flaps that together form a spill-proofcover. The flaps are flexed in order to access the container contents.The flaps hinder access and prevent viewing of the contents.

There remains a need for a spill-proof container for particulatematerial that enables easy access to and viewing of the material duringnormal container usage, but which will prevent spillage of the materialif the container is tipped. Preferably, the material within thecontainer is not discharged from its original storage location and isrecoverable when the container is returned to the upright position.

SUMMARY

Generally, the present invention addresses this need by providing aspill-proof container for particulate material that is comprised of abowl with an access opening, and a bowl support for holding the bowl sothat the bowl remains in an upright orientation and the access openingis covered by a part of the bowl support when the container is tipped.The support includes an open-top chamber in the shape of a truncatedsphere, i.e., a spherical chamber with a slice cut off of the top toform the access opening. The normally upright, open-top bowl is freelyrotatable within the chamber relative to the support, with the supportand bowl openings being aligned to permit access to the bowl interiorwhen the support and bowl are both in their upright orientation andunaligned to close the bowl access opening when the outer section is notin the upright position.

Preferably, the support includes a base section with an upwardlyoriented hemispherical chamber, and a top section with a downwardlyoriented truncated hemispherical chamber and an upper access openingformed by truncation at the top of the hemisphere. The base and topsections are releasibly joined so that the upper and lower hemisphericalopenings form a truncated spherical bowl receiving chamber. The accessopening in the top section is preferably circular with a given diameterless than the diameter of the chamber. One of the hemispherical sectionsmay include a projection around its edge to releasibly attach thesections.

The bowl section of the spill-proof container has an outer wall that isgenerally in the shape of a truncated sphere, with the truncationforming the access opening into the bowl interior. The bowl has adiameter approximately equal to the chamber diameter, and is freelyrotatable within the support chamber. The shape of the interior is notcritical to the invention. For maximum volume, however, the interior ofthe bowl will also be in the shape of truncated sphere.

The bowl should be normally oriented to its upright position, i.e., thecenter of gravity of the bowl should be below the bowl midpoint, so thatthe bowl will remain in its upright position when the support is tilted.The design of the bowl or an added weight can be used to ensure that thecenter of gravity is below the midpoint.

In order to reduce the friction between the outer wall of the bowl andthe chamber wall, a part of the bowl wall may be spaced from the chamberwall so that only selected areas of the bowl wall make frictionalcontact with the chamber wall during rotation of the bowl. Spacing maybe achieved by decreasing the diameter of at least a section of the bowlwall or by increasing at least a section of the chamber wall.

For example, the bowl wall may include a continuous annular uppersection extending around the bowl access opening, a lower section acrossthe bottom of the bowl, and a continuous middle wall section extendingaround the middle of the bowl between the upper and lower sections. Themiddle section may have a diameter less than the upper and middlesections. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to thebowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the chamber wall and the bowl upper and lower wallsections, substantially reducing friction and facilitating freedom ofrotation.

Alternatively, the diameter of the bowl wall may be uniform while thesupport chamber diameter is greater in some areas than in others. Forexample, the chamber wall may include a continuous annular upper sectionextending around the chamber access opening, a lower section across thebottom of the chamber, and a continuous middle wall section extendingaround the middle of the chamber between the upper and lower sections.The middle section may have a diameter greater than the upper and middlesections. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to thebowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the bowl wall and the chamber upper and lower wallsections, again substantially reducing friction and facilitating freedomof rotation.

Other configurations to achieve the reduced friction will be apparent toone skilled in the art after reading the present description. Forexample, either the bowl wall or chamber wall may be “dimpled” with aplurality of projections, with the ends of the projections having thediameter of the opposing wall.

When used, a solid material is placed in the bowl. For example, thesolid material may be a particulate material such as a foodstuff, e.g.,cereal, cookies, candy, etc. Alternatively, the foodstuff may be ananimal food, such as dog or cat food. The container may also be used fornon-food materials, such as parts, supplies, etc. Due to the relativelywide access opening, the material within the bowl is easily viewable,and can be reached by hand or a utensil.

In the event that the base is tipped from its upright position, eitherpartially or completely, the bowl will remain in the upright positiondue to its center of gravity being below its midpoint. Thus, the chamberand bowl access openings, which are normally in alignment to provideaccess to the bowl interior, will become nonaligned due to rotation ofthe chamber access opening to the side of the bowl access opening, andthe bowl access opening will be covered by a part of the chamber wall.Depending on the tolerance between the chamber and bowl walls, theclosure of the bowl access opening can prevent spillage of liquids inaddition to spillage of any solid material content.

Thus, the container of the present invention is suitable for a varietyof end uses. For example, the container can be used as a food containerby children, invalids and others who may accidentally tip the containerover during eating. The container can also be used as a pet foodcontainer, or as a holder for any type of solid material that mightnormally spill when the container is tipped over.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior of a container of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a preferred embodiment of thecontainer in the upright position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional side view of the container of FIG. 2, with thesupport partially tipped.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the container of FIG. 2, with thesupport tipped to approximately 90.degree. for its normally vertical,upright orientation.

FIG. 5 is an alternative embodiment of the invention in which thechamber wall has an enlarged diameter around its center section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, terms such as horizontal, upright,vertical, above, below, beneath, and the like, are used solely for thepurpose of clarity in illustrating the invention, and should not betaken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose ofillustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale.

As shown in FIGS. 1-4, a preferred embodiment of container, generally10, is comprised of a bowl support formed of base section 12 thatincludes an upwardly oriented hemispherical chamber and top section 14that includes a downwardly oriented truncated hemispherical chamberhaving an upper circular access opening 16. Base section 12 and topsection 14 are releasibly joined by flange 18 to form a truncatedspherical bowl-receiving chamber defined by chamber wall 20. Thediameter of access opening 16 is less than the diameter of the chamber,and is preferably from about 25 to about 85% of the diameter of thechamber.

Container 10 further includes bowl 30 having an outer wall 32 that isgenerally in the shape of a truncated sphere, and an interior chamber 34that is also in the shape of a truncated sphere but of a smallerdiameter than the bowl outer wall 32. Bowl 30 includes an access opening36 having a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of accessopening 16. Outer wall 32 is comprised of continuous annular uppersection 38 extending around the periphery of opening 36, a lower section40 across the bottom of bowl 30, and a middle or intermediate section 42extending around bowl 30 between upper section 38 and lower section 40.

In order for bowl 30 to remain in its upright, vertical orientationregardless of the orientation of the support, the center of gravity ofbowl 30 should be below the center point of bowl 30. As shown in thepreferred embodiment, this is achieved by molding weight 44 into thebottom of bowl 30.

As shown in FIGS. 2-4, the diameters of upper section 38 and lowersection 40 are approximately equal to the diameter of chamber wall 20,while the diameter of middle section 42 is less than the diameter ofchamber wall 20. As illustrated in the drawings, bowl 32 is shown spacedslightly from chamber wall 20 to better illustrate the invention. Whenactually constructed, however, the diameters of the two walls aresubstantially the same so long as there is no frictional binding betweenthe walls. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relative to bowl30, which remains in an upright position, the frictional contact willonly be between the chamber wall 20 and bowl upper and lower wallsections 38 and 40 respectively, substantially reducing friction andfacilitating freedom of rotation.

Alternatively, as shown in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, thediameter of bowl wall 50 may be constant while the diameter of supportchamber wall 52 is greater in some sections than in others. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, the chamber wall 52 includes a continuous annularupper section 54 extending around chamber access opening 56, a lowersection 58, and a continuous middle wall section 60 extending around themiddle of chamber wall 52 between the upper section 54 and lower section58. Middle section 60 has a diameter greater than upper section 54 andlower section 58. Thus, when the support is tipped and rotates relativeto the bowl, which remains in an upright position, the frictionalcontact will only be between bowl wall 50 and upper and lower wallsections 54 and 58, again substantially reducing friction andfacilitating freedom of rotation.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled inthe art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It should beunderstood that all such modifications and improvements have beendeleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but areproperly within the scope of the following claims.

1. A container comprising a first bowl nested within a second bowl, (a)wherein the first bowl includes a first opening and the second bowlincludes a second opening, (b) wherein the first opening overlies thesecond opening to permit access to an interior storage space of thefirst bowl from an exterior of the container when the first and secondbowls are in respective upright orientations, and (c) wherein the firstbowl may be rotated 180 degrees in every rotational direction relativeto the second bowl while remaining nested within the second bowl.
 2. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein the first bowl includes an outer wallresembling a truncated-sphere.
 3. The container of claim 1, wherein thesecond bowl includes a truncated-spherical chamber within which thefirst bowl is located.
 4. The container of claim 1, wherein the firstbowl is biased by gravity toward an upright orientation.
 5. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein, when the first bowl is in an uprightorientation and the second bowl is rotated from an upright orientation,the first bowl is configured to remain in the upright orientation. 6.The container of claim 1, wherein, when the first bowl is in an uprightorientation and the second bowl is not in an upright orientation, thesecond bowl covers at least a portion of the first opening of the firstbowl.
 7. The container of claim 1, wherein, when the first bowl is in anupright orientation and the second bowl is rotated to an upside downorientation, the first bowl remains in the upright orientation and thesecond bowl covers the first opening in the first bowl, therebyprecluding access to the interior storage space of the first bowl. 8.The container of claim 1, further comprising particulate materialcontained within the interior storage space of the first bowl and, (i)when both the first bowl and the second bowl are in respective uprightorientations, the particulate material within the interior storage spaceis accessible by hand through the first and second openings, and (ii)when the second bowl is moved into an upside down orientation and thefirst bowl remains in an upright orientation, the second bowl covers thefirst opening and the particular material is prevented from spilling outof the interior storage space of the first bowl.
 9. The container ofclaim 8, wherein, when the second bowl is returned to an uprightorientation from an upside down orientation with first the bowl in anupright orientation, the particulate material within the interiorstorage space of the first bowl is again accessible by hand through thefirst and second openings.
 10. The container of claim 1, wherein theinterior storage space of the first bowl may be viewed, from theexterior of the container, through the first and second openings, whenboth the first bowl and the second bowl are in respective uprightorientations.
 11. The container of claim 1, wherein rotationalorientation of the first bowl is independent of rotational orientationof the second bowl support.
 12. The container of claim 1, wherein thefirst bowl has a weight incorporated into a bottom wall section of thefirst bowl such that the first bowl is biased toward an uprightorientation by gravity.
 13. The container of claim 12, wherein theweight is molded into the bottom wall section of the first bowl and doesnot occupy the interior storage space of the first bowl.
 14. Thecontainer of claim 1, wherein the second bowl has a truncated sphericalchamber.
 15. The container of claim 14, wherein an exterior shape of thefirst bowl comprises a truncated spherical chamber.
 16. The container ofclaim 1, wherein the second bowl is configured such that the second bowldoes not prohibit any rotational orientation of the first bowl, thefirst bowl being freely rotatable while nested within the second bowl.17. The container of claim 1, wherein the first opening is the onlyopening in the first bowl that is dimensioned to permit access by handto the interior storage space.
 18. The container of claim 1, wherein thesecond bowl is comprised of separable upper and lower sections.